I don't own naruto

Chapter 3

Sakura growled in annoyance as she and her horse, Mira, raced down a rocky path, occasionally changing the road they go on to confuse their pursuers. Loud shouting and hollering came from behind the rosette and the silver horse, forcing them to push faster. The pursers were a small gang that Sakura had to remove, since they discovered she was a girl, despite the fact they weren't even in the bingo book. Sakura had left the village a mere two weeks ago, and was already being hunted down. She had been posing as a man, or boy since she's young, for awhile, and these goons somehow managed to figure out she was a girl, don't ask why, and were now chasing her in hopes of selling her to a wealthy buyer. To the those watching, it looks like Sakura is rather cowardly running away from them, but in reality, she was purposely leading them to a close by lake, so she she could control the water there and remove these men for good. Sakura has been training to use the moister in the air, but hasn't perfected it enough to use it in battle, otherwise she risks hurting her self.

Sakura bit her bottom lip, and decided that leading them was taking to much of her time, which she didn't have a lot of, and swiftly leapt off of her horse and slammed her foot into the ground, causing to completely explode and break, rubble flying everywhere, sending her pursuers flying. She jumped again and threw a powerful punch to the leaders head, breaking his skull and tearing his brain. She lashed her sword out at five men, cleanly cutting right through them, their blood splattering across the ground, some landing on her face. Focusing her magic, she carefully wove it around the area, placing her complex illusion. The last of the gang stopped what they were doing and stared around, eyes wide and foam beginning to form at the edge of their mouths. They started screaming and gripping their heads, shouting incoherent nonsense, which she could vaguely translate to begging. Sakura just watched, unmoving and silent, her face devoid of emotion and her swaying softly in the light wind, the sun rays fell upon her, making it look like she was glowing.

The rest of men eventually passed out, and Sakura beheaded them, not bothering to remove or hand in their bodies since they didn't even have a bounty over their heads.

"Scum like you deserve to die" she hissed quietly, glaring down at the still forms, remembering seeing them torture a young boy and his puppy. She saved the boy and his puppy, named Raven, and gave him back to his family.

Sighing Sakura fixed her mask back onto her face, hiding her angelic features and pulled her hood up to cover her soft pink locks. She elegantly jumped into to the trees and followed her horses tracks to a large clearing and quickly jumped on, grabbing the reigns and heading of to the main road.

After about five minutes of moving, the exhaustion kicked in and Sakura slumped forward, her vision blurring. She could tell her horse tired as well, so they stopped at a close by village for the night. Sakura put her horse in one of open stables and paid the guy there to handle her horse. She rented a room and flopped on to the futon, not bothering to change. Closing her her eyes, she drifted into the land of dreams and nightmares, her mind blank and her body sore.

~dream~ (or vision? :O)

Sakura opened her eyes, only to find her self in a flower filled clearing, lit up from the bright sun hanging high in the seemingly endless sky. Her hair was out and much longer, reaching her thighs and close to her knees She wore a white sleeveless dress that was so soft and smooth to the touch and ended slightly under her knees, and she wore no shoes or sandals. What was really strange was that she was older, her curves were a lot more prominent and she was taller, standing at around 5"5. Her eyes appeared a bit lighter, but still emerald and surrounded by long thick lashes. She was still slim and very pale, her hair was tied at the end with a small white ribbon (like Neji's) and her bangs still split in the centre, a light green Dimond almost white resting on her pale forehead. At first guess she was possibly in her early twenties.

There was one tree in the centre of the clearing, a beautiful cherry blossom tree in full bloom, standing prowled against the vast bright blue sky with no cloud in sight. Sakura smiled softly and walked towards it, her small feet making no noise when pressed to the soft grassy ground. Reaching closer, Sakura noticed a figure standing underneath the tree. Though she could not see them properly, she could tell it was a man judging by his height and shoulder width. Now closer, she could see him wearing black clothes and armour, and he had long dark hair. He held an air of power and dominance, and even though she couldn't see his face, she could literally feel him smirking down at her.

She couldn't recognise him, but she felt strongly familiar to him, as if they were close. She was now directly in front of him, but she still couldn't make out his face. She could only see his lips, which were tilted to a soft smirk, though she had no idea how a smirk could soft. He towered over with his large 6"6 frame, casting a shadow over her tiny form. He held out a large gloved hand towards her, and without thinking, she placed her own small pale hand on his, their fingers twining together. His smirk formed in to a gentle smile, and an unexplainable joy flooded over her. She walked toward so they were standing side by side, still holding hands, and they both walked together towards the horizon. It was strangely peaceful, there was no awkward tension between them. The man finally spoke up, gripping her hand gently.

'This is what I have been waiting for, my dear' he murmured, his voice carried by the soft breeze and floated through her trained ears.

Sakura felt a pleasure full tingle go down her spine at the sound of his voice. It was so deep and smooth, she had never heard something like it before. The way it rumbled slightly, almost like a growl; it made her feel like she was going to melt into a love-sick blob. Tears flooded her big emerald eyes when she faced him, his smile so gentle and full of emotion. A small tear dripped down her pale cheek that was tinted a light pink. He chuckled both softly and deeply placing his free hand softly against her face, gently wiping the tear away. He leaned down and she she lead up, their lips so close she could feel his warm breath brush her face. They closed in, their lips brushing against each other-

~dream end~

Sakura bolted up, hearing a loud crash just outside her brown-paper-and-wood sliding door. Immediately going into a defensive position, the young teen lifted her sword and aimed it towards the door, her body going tense. It was silent for a while, then another crash caused Sakura to flinch slightly. The crashes continued on for a few more moments, before silence fell eerily over the dark room. She slowly moved forward, sword in hand, silent and careful like a cat hunting its prey. Slowly sliding the door open she peeked outside. It was silent, and she couldn't sense anyone close by. The only sound that could be heard were the snores coming from the next room. Letting out a breath she didn't realise she had been holding, she scanned the area once more before sliding the door shut. Sitting down with her legs crossed, Sakura began to meditate and try to ease her mind and body. Gathering her magic, she felt it course throughout her body and through the air, absorbing it and moving it with delicate precision.

She did this for a while, perfecting her control and feeling the environment. It was both peaceful and soothing, and it never ceases to amaze her how the magic networks tie in so closely with her vital functions; If her magic energy were to stop moving in its regular course, the outcomes would be devastating. Her whole system would shut down slowly and painfully, tearing at her vital organs and muscles, ripping each cell apart mercilessly, bending and twist formerly hard bones, and eventually throwing her into the harsh grips of death, leaving someone else to remove her body and the mess made when her muscles soften and release her waste. Sounds disgusting, and it is, but it is reality.

Sensing another presence in the room, her body tensed and she opened her emerald gaze into a half lidded stare, watching through the curtains of her thick lashes. The presence noticed her shift in attitude and the sudden tension surrounding her and chuckled darkly. The presence vanished, then reappeared directly in front of her, so close that it's breath fanned her face. It spoke with a chilling voice that grated down through her flesh, muscle, and bone, and made her soul completely freeze. The voice was so strange and unrecognisable, she couldn't even distinguish if it was a male of female, but rather a mix of both, but somehow neither. She couldn't see its face, only two glowing yellow eyes. It stunk of the strangely distinct smell of sour death that had been lingering for far too long, Sakura had to force her self not to coil back or cringe from the putrid smell. It spoke in a foreign language unknown to her, but despite the different tongue, the words rattled her nerves and forced a cold sweat to break out of her skin. She could actually feel the thing smile, before it completely vanished, leaving Sakura shaking and sweating. The girl swallowed thickly, her eyes wide and filled with terror she never knew before. Sakura had felt fear many times throughout the short span of her young life, but this fear felt like the essence of terror, so chilling and brutally pure. Her mind grew numb and she collapsed, her mind unable to process or properly comprehend what had just happened, so she shut off.

Waking up had been quite the joy. Not. When Sakura lifted her painfully heavy eyelids, she was immediately greeted with a very lovely headache spreading all across her mind and making her feel like someone with massive claws was digging and clutching right onto the most sensitive parts of her brain. Groaning, she forced her sore body up and dragged her near lifeless body to the bathroom were she did her normal business of going to the toilet, brushing her hair and teeth, and taking a bath, which was sadly cold. Putting her clothes on, including her mask, grabbing some money and walking slowly out the door. She added some magic into legs and flashed in front of the desk, dropped some money on it and 'teleported' to her horse, climbed on and headed out the main entry, passing a few people who gave curious looks.

While on the road, she realised that she hadn't even cleared one person from the bingo book and had done minimal training. By training, she meant waving her sword around, jumping on a few trees, and using the water to recreate sappy love stories from books some of the older women would read to her and her sisters sometimes. Groaning, she forced herself to look forward and get a huge move on. Stamina was her biggest priority, as with control of water.

"This is gonna be a long five years" she muttered, picking up the pace and grabbing her trusty bingo book.

-five years later-

A now sixteen-turning-seventeen year old Sakura laughed gleefully as she raced through the branches of tall trees, her horse galloping on the ground beneath, keeping up with Sakura. The beautiful young woman had changed a lot through out the years and had matured. She now looked exactly as she did in the dream she had all those years ago, though more youthful looking, and her clothes had remained the same as previously described (not the dress). She now had more confidence, but was still very quiet and soft voiced. Her muscles had strengthened and her stamina had grown drastically along with her speed, control of her magic, and sword ability.

Her reputation was widely known, though no one had figured out her true identity as a woman. A Dimond seal now rested on her forehead, a long, elegant looking sword strapped to her hip. Her hair had grown very long and thick and was now loosely tied, hidden beneath the cape and hood. Her beautiful face hidden beneath a mask of no expression but thin lines for sight and blue swirls cutting across.

She was known and feared for her monster strength and speed, illusions, sword arts and water magic, and both loved and greatly admired for her rare healing ability and strategising during battle. To the world, she was a man known as 'the night hunter' with no fear or weakness. A man who could face and entire army and live, a man with no boundaries. If only they knew they were wrong about three big things. Sakura does have her weaknesses, though they were tricky to find, they do very much exist, just well hidden. She was quite a few fears, though nothing that needs to be known, yet. The man part was self-explanatory.

Doing a small flip, Sakura flew down and landed lightly onto the ground, breathing out a pleased sigh. She sat down on the edge of the cliff listening to her horse trot over and rest not too far behind her. Grabbing a scroll, she summoned the tricoloured dango she bought after killing the last criminal in the book. Chewing slowly she opened the bingo book and decided to read through it. Each face had a cross over it, and their location, name and bounty had been circled and crossed out. She always collected the money and stored safely in a scroll. The total amount she now had was 72 million gold. She didn't use that money, since it was for the village, instead she would make her own money through selling her drawings and paintings. Yea, that was the 'useless' talent mentioned earlier that proved to instead be very useful. She would sell the art using her actual name and appearance, making sure to hide any sign of her real status as a warrior. It was for the best, since if anyone found out, it would cause a huge uproar.

Leaning back on her hands, excited that she could now finally go home after a long five years of brutal mental and physical training, constant battling and long hours of travelling both on horse back and on foot.

Grinning she stood up and stretched. It wouldn't be long until she could finally show her true identity, and take the world completely by storm. The excitement grew since she would have her family by her side and supporting her all the way. Thinking of her loved ones reminded her of that loneliness that was almost constantly tugging at her heart, and she sighed, her mind filling with all the good memories she had. Forcing her sadness aside and reminded her self she would see them all soon.

"Don't worry, girls, I'm coming home!"

(I'll try to write longer chapters, sorry for any mistakes. Thanks for reading!)